Struggling students in high schools across the metro area – from Highlands Ranch to Montbello – are not likely to improve academically, and some may slip in core subjects as they progress through high school.
Even at the highest-performing and most affluent high schools, unsatisfactory students those scoring well below
grade level on state tests in reading and math are not predicted to progress by the end of their high school careers, according to yearly data released by the Colorado Department of Education.
As students prepare for the spring state assessment tests to be given in a few weeks, principals and teachers are placing lagging ninth- and 10th-graders in one-on-one study sessions in hopes of improving scores.
But the chances of that are low.
In many high schools, including Arvada and Smoky Hill, some students who are proficient or at grade level in core subjects at the end of ninth grade are expected to fall to partially proficient by the time they reach 10th grade.
State officials arrived at this predicted growth data by looking at individual student scores over the course of four years. Using a complicated formula, they can predict how well a student will do based on past progress, said Dianne Lefley of the education department.
Some administrators say that as high school students get older, they stop caring about state assessment tests.
But others who have studied school reform say the problem could stem from the structure of high school itself: Students are shuffled to several classes a day and teachers see more than 100 students in seven hours.
In other words, its hard to personalize the experience for anyone.
I think if youre teaching 150 kids American History, and its apparent that someone has not learned anything from the assigned reading, if youre a teacher, its not your problem to make them learn how to read, said Alex Medler, staff director for the Colorado Commission for High School Improvement and a researcher at the Colorado Childrens Campaign.
Generally, high school instructors teach subjects and elementary school instructors teach children, Medler said.
Individualizing instruction is harder to do at the high school level, he said. Its also the point where students drop out.
At some point, if you ignore it, the student goes away.
Medler, as well as high school principals interviewed for this story, agree that if middle and elementary school students were given attention as they began slipping academically, the problem wouldnt be as egregious when they got older.
All along, we need to identify and address the needs of kids who are behind, Medler said.
Bleak numbers
In Denver Public Schools, where the number of unsatisfactory high school students is large, the picture is particularly
bleak.
More than 90 percent of the students at one-third of the citys high schools likely will not be able to complete grade-level
math during high school.
Students at North, West, Montbello and Abraham Lincoln are ranked among the lowest in the city for predicted growth on state assessment tests.
At Lincoln, where 94 percent of ninth-graders were below grade level in math last spring, principal Antonio Esquibel has
pulled about 100 of his low-performing freshmen and sophomores out of elective classes for eight weeks to work on
reading and math before the CSAP tests.
Only ninth-and 10th-graders take the tests, which are administered in March.
Pre-CSAP tutoring efforts
Last year, Lincoln offered after-hours tutoring, but so few students participated that Esquibel moved the sessions to the
school day.
Teachers also meet to determine what helps students progress. He said his staff should be prying apart the sophisticated data they get about each student.
Theyre (teachers) talking to each other, Esquibel said. Were giving them the time to collaborate and look at strengths.
DPS is in its second year of an intensive pre-CSAP tutoring program called DPS Success. Last year, after its inaugural run, DPS schools showed gains in most categories on state tests.
At Cherry Creek High School, where 30 percent of the ninth-graders are below grade level in math, the school has created African-American and Latino achievement councils to try to get students to talk about what they need to excel, said
Dawn Vaughn, the assistant to the principal.
Many of the low-performing students at Cherry Creek are students of color, Vaughn said. We want to hear it from students, what they need, she said.
Nationally, experts puzzle about what happens in high school with assessment tests.
Several Colorado school districts are showing measurable progress with elementary-aged children, yet high schoolers
score worse than they have in the past.
Results released last week for the National Assessment for Educational Progress, or the Nations Report Card, show that high school students, nationally, read at lower levels than they did 13 years ago.
We try our best, said Karen Taylor, assistant principal at Wheat Ridge High School, where more than half of the ninth-graders were below grade level in math last year and only 3 percent of them are expected to reach proficiency.
But there isnt a lot of reason for a student to try their best. A lot of other things take priority in a students life at that
point.
Who sets the standards
In 2001 and 2002, a group of Colorado teachers met to discuss what “grade-level proficient” was in reading and math. These standards remain in force.
Those early discussions produced above-average standards in math and below-average standards in reading compared with national averages as calculated by the National Assessment Educational Progress. This means that in Colorado, it’s easier to be “proficient” in reading and harder to be “proficient” in math, according to the Colorado Department of Education. Math standards actually are harder to meet as students age. This may explain some of the slide in CSAP math scores.
The math standards expect students to “accumulate” knowledge: Students must retain nuances of algebra or geometry in 10th grade, even if they learned those subjects in eighth grade. Because reading is a more seamless discipline, students are less likely to slip in this subject, education officials say.
– Allison Sherry
